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Ethical Fashion Resources

This list of resources includes some of the key texts that I have come across over the last two to three years. It doesn’t cover every area of ethical fashion as the selections are based on my own research interests. The main areas not covered are the ethics of wearing fur, and recycling/waste, although these areas are touched upon in some of the generalised books.

Books

Prehistoric Textiles. Barber, E.J.W. 1992, Princeton University Press

Information on early textiles, relevant to explore how textiles have been important in our lives for thousands of years.

Design for Sustainability: A practical approach. Bhamra, T. 2007, Gower Publishing

Covers sustainable design in general, covers the whole life cycle.

Eco-Chic: The Fashion Paradox. Black, S. 2008, Black Dog Publishing

Key ethical fashion text written by London College of Fashion professor, Sandy Black.

Future fashion: White Papers. Hoffman, L. 2007, Earth Pledge

Fantastic resource for ethical/sustainable fashion and textiles. Compilation of detailed academic papers covering most topics.

Sustainable Textiles: Life cycle and environmental impact. Blackburn, R.S. 2009, Woodhead Publishing in Textiles

Fantastic edited book of various journal papers. Extremely detailed and useful information, but book is very difficult to get hold of.

Environmental Life Cycle Analysis. D. F. Ciambrone 1997, CRC Press.

This is a very specific book for LCA, not needed for undergrads but useful for business or professional research purposes. Hard going without background knowledge, but essential for anyone trying to compile a comprehensive LCA.

Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys. Fletcher, K. 2008, Earthscan.

Fantastic book by Dr Kate Fletcher of London College of Fashion. Covers whole textile life cycle, really useful read.

The Textile Book. Gale, C.; Kaur, J. 2002, Berg

Puts textiles into a social and creative context. Great final chapter called, ‘Ecology’ which covers ethical issues.

Ecological Intelligence, Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy. Goleman, D.
2009, Penguin Group

A great read on consumption and ethics in general. Detailed discussion on LCA.

Sustainable Fashion, Why Now? Hethorn, J.; Ulasewicz, C. 2008, Fairchild Books

A collection of critical essays, fantastic. Something for everyone.

Ethics in the Fashion Industry. Hillery, J.L.; Paulins, V.A. 2009, Fairchild Books

A slightly different angle on ethics, concerns more the decisions that fashion professionals have to make. Retail/human perspective.

The Apparel Industry. Jones, R.M. 2006, Blackwell Publishing

Not specifically from an ethical angle, but a detailed look at the global clothing industry including a chapter on UK production, labour issues, offshore production and trade barriers.

Eco Chic: The Savvy Shoppers Guide to Ethical Fashion. Lee, M.; Hamnett, K. 2007, Octopus Publishing.

Nice read, good background info but not an academic text.

The Travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy. Rivoli, P. 2006, John Wiley & Sons

As the title says. Very interesting look at production stage from cotton farms to consumer.

Slaves to Fashion. Ross, R. 2004, The University of Michigan Press

American perspective, history and impact of sweatshop labour. Essential for labour studies.

Explaining Environmentalism: In search of a new social movement. Sutton, P.W. 2000, Ashgate Publishing

Provides theoretical basis to justify ethical fashion perspectives.

Trigger Issues: T-shirt. Wells, T. 2007, New Internationalist Publications

Ethical issues in producing a cotton t-shirt, pesticide use, sweatshops.

Eco Fashion. Brown, S. 2010, Laurence King

A catalogue of ethical designers, great resource for case studies.

Making Sweatshops: The globalisation of the US apparel industry. Rosen, E. 2002, University of California Press

An historical analysis of the US clothing industry and the rise of sweatshops.

Reports

Environmental Assessment of Textiles. 2007, Danish Environmental Protection Agency

Scientific study, only needed for detailed assessment.

Public Understanding of Sustainable Clothing: A report to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Cooper, T.; Fisher, T.; Goworek, H.; Hiller, A.; Woodward. 2008, Defra

Defra report, very useful for consumer study data.

Ethical Clothing. Mintel, 2009, Mintel Group

Respected market research, look out for future updated reports.

Are We Well Dressed? Allwood, J.M.; Broken, N.M.P.; Laursen, S.E.; Rodriguez, C.M. 2006, University of Cambridge.

Excellent reference report looking at UK textile industry and LCA for different products.

Fashioning the Future. 2008, Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion

Documents the debates raised from a conference, therefore more of a conversation amongst key representatives than an informative report.

Fashioning Sustainability. 2007, Forum for the Future

A useful and very readable summary of all ethical fashion issues.

Websites

http://www.ethicalfashionforum.com/

A fab source for resources, designers and events.

http://www.fashioninganethicalindustry.org/

http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/

http://www.pan-uk.org/

http://www.forumforthefuture.org/

http://www.sustainable-fashion.com/

http://www.waronwant.org/

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/products/cotton/default.aspx

http://slowtextiles.org/

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/fur.aspx

http://www.trackmyt.com/

http://www.soilassociation.org/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/thread/

http://www.ecochiccollection.co.uk/magazine/

http://www.ecofashionworld.com/

http://www.offsetwarehouse.com/

http://www.peopletree.co.uk/

I haven’t included a list of journal articles because I would only be able to list specific papers that I have used, missing many out. Newspapers, magazines and trade magazines also have helpful news stories, especially Drapers.

If you know of any other key resources please let me know! Leave your additions as a comment below, this list certainly isn’t exhaustive.

BIC Pen Dress

Here’s an idea – next time the ink in your pen runs out, don’t chuck it in the bin, get creative with all of those tubes of plastic. Take inspiration from Annette Carey who has designed this dress made from the humble BIC ball point pen barrels. To celebrate BIC Cristal pen’s 60th anniversary, the dress was designed to appear in an exhibition at the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising for one month from 1st April.

The dress is made from 1,200 BIC barrels, 2000 Swarovski crystals, and weighs 8lbs. Talk about upcycling! Basic pen to stunning dress in just 640 man hours. . .

Earth Hour: Climate change

Tonight, Sat 26th March, is Earth Hour. Are you joining in? Earth Hour started in Sydney in 2007 when 2.2 million people turned their lights off to make a stand against climate change. Last year was the biggest Earth Hour ever with 128 countries taking part. Organised by WWF, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and China have already turned off on mass to recognise Earth Hour, and I plan to do the same at 8:30 this evening.

I have to say, I’m pretty good at turning lights off. In fact it really annoys me when I see lights on unnecessarily, once you start to give it more thought it just becomes habit to switch them off. Obviously turning off lights for just an hour isn’t going to make a huge amount of difference to climate change, but the publicity around the event aims to make people continue to think about the issue after the hour is up. Climate change remains an issue for debate. World temperatures reached a global high in 1998, but fluctuated in the following years, leading some people to believe that climate change ‘stopped’ in 1998. In early 2011 the World Meteorological Organisation announced that 2010 was the joint hottest year on record along with 1998 and 2005.

There is no doubt that the temperature of the Earth has been steadily rising for decades, but I do understand where the sceptics out there are coming from. Some scientists and members of the public alike, argue that ‘climate change’ is a natural change in the Earth’s life cycle, having been through a number of dramatic climatic changes over the last 4 billion years. This may be the case, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that human activity is now intervening. Atmospheric chemist, Paul Crutzen, coined the term ‘anthropocene’ in 2000 to explain the affect that human activity is having on the world. He stated that we are entering a new geological era (the anthropocene era) due to the affect of human activity. If humans destroy the Earth by using up fossil fuels and causing global warming, they are destroying themselves as a species, the Earth, however, will live on as it has done in previous millennia. Of course, some say that the Earth does a good enough job causing disasters itself, just witness the terrible earthquake in Japan.

I often think, hey, it will be ok, the human species will adapt. Advances in technology and science will allow us all to live a carbon neutral life. Or will they? I don’t know. What I do believe, is that humans don’t have the right to mess with nature and our current way of life has become unsustainable.

Textiles: New Research Strategies

On March 19th 2011, the Textile Society held its first research symposium. The event aimed to facilitate the exchange of research within textiles and I went along as an audience member. I had hoped to speak about my carbon footprinting research but in the end they were overrun with speakers, so I have written a piece for their journal TEXT instead.

As textiles have become a growing academic area of research, the topics under its umbrella are far and wide. The morning session included papers on textile histories, something I have only little knowledge about but am learning. There was also discussion on the way in which textiles are exhibited in museums, and exciting news about the Clothworkers’ Centre for Textiles and Fashion Study, which will open in 2013 as part of the V&A.

The afternoon looked at more contemporary issues and critical thinking behind fashion and textiles. Although thought provoking, there were times when it felt a little ‘wishy washy’. Nonetheless, there were some great ideas for the future, including the use of concrete on clothing to absorb pollutants in the air. Hopefully the event will happen in future years, it is always great to belong to these societies but the value of community is heightened when you have a chance to meet like minded people and swap ideas.

Oscars Dress

It’s a bit late, but after my post about Livia Firth’s Green Carpet Challenge in Jan (she set herself the challenge of wearing ethical clothes to every red carpet event through award season) I have to comment on the Oscars dress. She chose ethical couture designer Gary Harvey and the results were stunning. A floor length corseted creation in ivory, it was upcycled from 11 vintage frocks!

New Eco Fashion Book

'Eco Fashion' by Sass Brown was published late last year. It joins a quickly expanding topic area of books with vastly varying qualities. This book is great overview of the industry, but is not an academic text. Sass Brown is a Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and the book takes an American view, which is a slight downside, just because many of the designers are based in the US.

After a short introduction, the bulk of the book profiles around a hundred designers, including lots I hadn’t heard of! It is split into 5 chapters showcasing brands that are ethical in different ways, such as fair trade and slow design. It’s a lovely shiny book, easy to read and a nice addition to the book shelf.